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I would like to try one of the Baozhongs from Floating Leaves. Shiuwen has 3 Baozhongs :

2010 Second Place
2010 Farmer's Choice
2010 Honorable Mention

I could just order 1 Oz from each and decide which one I prefer but before I do that I would like to know if you could tell me the main differences between them? Thanks.

I've not tried any of them, but I have been thinking of ordering the sampler which contains half an ounce of all three.

Skip the Farmer's Choice. Last years was amazing, but 2010 is not so great. I've had the Second Place as well- pretty decent, but overall the 2010 Taiwanese teas are not doing it for me so far.

I ordered an ounce each of the Farmer's Choice and Honorable Mention. I was give a free sample of the Second Place. On first tasting I preferred the Farmer's Choice over the Honorable Mention as I liked the Farmer's Choice savory brothy taste & scent - almost like a chicken noodle broth with floral undertones. The Honorable Mention was probably just more floral. Drinking some Farmer's Choice today, I find it has a pleasant tartness/acidity to it with a greenish/floral scent along with the savory scent/taste. I tried the Second Place sample, but I can't remember my impression of it. I did have last year's Honorable Mention Baozhong from FLT and remember loving all the scents & tastes from it. I remember at one steeping it had a licorice scent to it that I thought was cool.

I would get samples of all & see what you think!

nickE wrote:I have been thinking of ordering the sampler which contains half an ounce of all three.

rhondabee wrote:I would get samples of all & see what you think!

Oops! I did not see that there is a Baozhongs sampler. I'll order it. Thanks

tingjunkie wrote:Skip the Farmer's Choice. Last years was amazing, but 2010 is not so great. I've had the Second Place as well- pretty decent, but overall the 2010 Taiwanese teas are not doing it for me so far.

Other day I had a Summer harvest Ali Shan with Annie. Much more to my personal liking, more tannins. But what do I know about green oolongs, anyway. (oops, I guess this thread is about Baozhong).

2010 2nd Place didn't work for me, either.

_BUMP_

I would describe the '10 Farmer's Choice as having a slightly soapy quality to it. Real easy to mistreat. I drank about 4oz of it this year, and occasionally it was good, but mostly not so much.

tingjunkie wrote:Skip the Farmer's Choice. Last years was amazing, but 2010 is not so great. I've had the Second Place as well- pretty decent, but overall the 2010 Taiwanese teas are not doing it for me so far.

Meh +1 Same as the DYL sadly.

Bubba_tea wrote:

tingjunkie wrote:Skip the Farmer's Choice. Last years was amazing, but 2010 is not so great. I've had the Second Place as well- pretty decent, but overall the 2010 Taiwanese teas are not doing it for me so far.

Meh +1 Same as the DYL sadly.

There's no possible way you're talking about the Winter DYL I assume? If you have any of that that you don't like, I'll gladly buy it from you. I just finished a pot that had been going (and still giving nice flavor) for about 8 days. Makes me excited to see how the spring '11 will be.

Must not be. Compared to the one she offered two years ago (IIRC) it wasn't in the same catagory at all. There wasn't any cha qi in the new one I tried

Bubba_tea wrote:Must not be. Compared to the one she offered two years ago (IIRC) it wasn't in the same catagory at all. There wasn't any cha qi in the new one I tried

Winter Li Shan is her best gaoshan right now and 2010 winter was the best season for gaoshans in about 4 years IMO. I like the nangan baozhong, but she is out of it. The second place is my next favorite, but not the best year for baozhongs IMO. She's in Taiwan right now doing a tour and tea buying - so I'm hoping there will be some good baozhongs to try in about a month.